The magic of science

A collective gasp follows a loud pop. Joseph Knight has just blown the top off of a potato chip can.

Jackie Bridges / jbridges@shelbystar.com

A collective gasp follows a loud pop. Joseph Knight has just blown the top off of a potato chip can.

“Want to see it again?” he asks the group of children and adults gathered in the Family Life Center at Zoar Baptist Church on July 10.

A great big “yes” is the answer.

Knight, the education director from KidSenses Interactive Children’s Museum in Forest City, puts on heavy gloves and pours some liquid nitrogen into the can. He snaps on the lid and holds the can out in front of him. “Pop,” the lid goes flying into the air, and the children clap and cheer.

The flying lid is just one of the experiments Knight will do this summer at Zoar as part of KidSenses ’ “Science on the Move.” The free programs will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays until Aug. 14.

“We are so excited that we were invited to come,” Knight said. “Our whole philosophy is to get kids excited about science. Sometimes, kids are intimidated by science. This program inspires children to want to pursue science.”

Zoar’s youth pastor, John Miller, wanted to offer something different this summer for the children in the church and the community.

“We have worked with KidSenses before and it has been great,” he said.

He called to see if the museum could come and do a weekly program this summer and find out the cost. Two sponsors, Norris Merchandise and Kennedy Concrete and Utilities, stepped up to pay for three-fourths of the summer, he said.

“We are trying to reach out to people who would not come to a church,” he said. “We want to help the community to see that we want to serve them and be a safe place where they can come and that we are here for them.”

In “Sub-zero Effect,” a presentation with liquid nitrogen, Knight explained to the children why the lid popped off the can. He also made a balloon shrink, shattered a marshmallow and a rubber ball and crumbled a green leaf.

“Liquid nitrogen is so cold, it can burn your skin,” he said. “When molecules are cold, they get close together. When they get warm, they expand. The pressure builds up and blows the top off the can.”

The same principle made the balloon shrink when it was placed in the cold nitrogen and expand when it came to room temperature.

“My favorite part was when he put the balloon in there,” Kyndall Winecoff , 8, said. “It froze and shrank and then it got warmer.”

Katie McClellan, 7, was fascinated when Knight poured out the liquid nitrogen on a rug and it immediately evaporated.

“Nothing happens to the carpet when he poured it on there,” she said. “It was really neat. It steamed everywhere.”

Braxton Tessneer , 10, said his favorite experiment was when Knight placed a rubber ball in the liquid nitrogen.

“He hit it with the hammer and it shattered,” Tessneer said. “I thought it would become hard and wouldn’t bounce.”

Want to go?

KidSenses programs at Zoar Baptist are offered to rising kindergarten students through rising sixth-graders and their families. Each program begins at 6:30 in the church family life center. The schedule for the rest of the summer includes:

July 24 – Science Shenanigans with chemistry and physics

July 31 – The Human Dynamo, learning about digestive, muscular and skeletal systems